Injected fluids tend to follow the path of least resistance, sometimes resulting in the least permeable areas receiving inadequate treatment. For example, during an acidizing treatment, acids form wormholes or flow pathways that continue to receive a majority of subsequently injected acidizing fluids. Lower-resistance pathways can cause problematic fluid loss or an undesirable fluid distribution during a variety of subterranean treatments, such as drilling, stimulation (e.g., hydraulic fracturing, matrix stimulation), sand control (e.g., gravel packing, frac-packing, and sand consolidation), and water control.
A diverter is a chemical agent or mechanical device used in an injection treatment to help ensure a more uniform distribution of treatment fluid across a treatment interval. A diverter can be used to bridge off one or more perforations, fractures, or flow pathways to control which zone is fractured. By using a diverter, a treatment can be focused on the areas requiring the most treatment. However, many available chemical diverters leave behind permeability-decreasing residue in the subterranean formation that cannot be easily or quickly removed, cannot be easily combined with acids, cannot be easily mixed on-the-fly, and do not have easily controllable viscosity and solids-suspension capacity.